In the world of e-commerce, moving potential customers from the awareness stage to an intent to purchase is an art and science. Following my previous article where we explored the Awareness stage, we now take a look at the Consideration phase. This is where the interest is deepened and customers are making careful choices.
Here, I’ll share on-site strategies and tips that have proven to be effective in guiding customers through this crucial juncture.
Understanding the Customer Journey
The consideration stage is where potential buyers weigh their options. They are aware of your brand and know they have a need and now are exploring solutions. The goal of the Consideration stage is to offer the best solution, enabling the customer to make an informed decision as simply as possible.
Following are ways you can accomplish this task.
Meaningful and Relevant Content
As I mentioned above, the consideration stage is where customers weigh their options and content is the cornerstone of that stage.
In-depth product comparisons, honest reviews and elaborate FAQ’s have always been on the top of my content strategy. All this content addresses common questions and concerns which not only helps to educate our customers, but also build trust in the brand.
Optimized UI/UX for Decision Making
This is one of those subconscious elements of the e-commerce customer journey.
Intuitive navigation, clear product categories, efficient search engine and clean page layout are essential. Implementing features like easy to use product filters, comparison tools, product recommendations and similar dramatically improve the customer experience and guide them more successfully through the consideration stage.
Using Email for Personalized Engagement
Capturing an email address is a strategic and critical move in the Consideration stage. This allows you to design targeted and personalized email campaigns. This has helped me keep our brand on the top of the mind and effectively guide potential customers towards making a purchase.
Offering value in exchange for their email such as various discount or gated content, encourages sign-ups without it coming across too intrusive.
The Power of Customer Reviews and Testimonials
Social proof is a very powerful tool in helping potential customers to decide to purchase your products.
Featuring customer reviews and not moderating them too much provides real life endorsements. It’s important to showcase trust on your website by not removing unfavorable comments. Instead, take an advantage to provide feedback on low rated ones. This turns a negative comment to a display of customer care and support. You as well can learn a lot from product reviews and feedback.
Similar to product reviews, business reviews are very powerful. From Google, Yelp and other third-party platforms, potential customers learn a lot.
Free Trials
This category applies mostly to services. Offering your potential customers an option to try before they buy, is one of the best ways to showcase your product quality. Even if your potential customer decides not to extend the use of the service after the trial period, you have still (hopefully) captured their email and contact information. Use this in future remarketing email campagins.
Why is All This Important?
Navigation the Consideration stage is more then just about showcasing your products. It’s about creating a smooth journey that educates, engages and reassures your potential customers.
By implementing above mentioned strategies, you can effectively guide them from interest to intent, which sets up the stage for the next crucial phase: Conversion.
